Glace Bay teen tormented, used as human bridge by schoolmate

This Facebook video screen grab shows a teen lying in a stream and young girl walking on him. - Facebook

Brett Corbett did not shed angry tears.

The 14-year-old boy cried describing how the video made him sad and embarrassed.

“It made me feel like I’m always getting bullied there and that no one cares,” said Brett, who has cerebral palsy.

Surrounded by about 30 students, Brett is lying face down in a torrent of shallow water bordering Glace Bay High School. A young woman steps on his back using him as a human bridge to avoid getting wet. Spectators laugh and a few record the spectacle. One boy fires a rock at him. The 18-second video that was posted on Facebook on Thursday morning ends with Brett standing up with a smile on his face.

The incident happened on Tuesday. It’s an accurate representation of the kind of the torment Brett says he endures at that school every day.

“I’ve been bullied before and I tried to take this to the office and they ignored me like they ignored me back in September. I was threatened. Someone was making fun of me for stuttering and I flipped him off. He said, ‘You flip me off one more time, I’ll kick your teeth down your throat.’”

Never in my LIFE have I ever been more disgusted. The young boy in this video is my friends son, he has cerebral palsy. This is Glace Bay High School.

Parents; you failed this generation. The amount of teenagers that stood around and watched this happen, even took videos of it. I hope you watch this video, recognize your kid and feel the shame. To the little girl that stepped on him; you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. Everyone who knows this boy knows he has a disability. How fricken hard is it to show some compassion?? To stand by and not only allow it to happen but to take a video as if it's a joke! It's 2018, show some respect for eachother and empower eachother rather than claw other people down to build yourself up. I think we need to take this situation and make change out of it. We need to look at our children and the lessons we are teaching, we need to play a more active role in their social life. Stuff like this happens because we don't know what our kids are doing at school or with their friends. This needs to CHANGE.

The video has since gone viral and has garnered hundreds of angry comments from people demanding the school take action.

Brett’s mother, Terri McEachern, said it was the video that finally prompted the school to suspend students who took part in the incident. She said she also called the school on Wednesday and was given no assurance that the matter was being dealt with.

“I watched the video and I know the girl said to Brett ‘Lay back down. ... I don’t want to get wet,’” recalled McEachern.

“That broke my heart. I’m heartbroken and angry everyone in that video is standing and watching and no one helped. I want this to stop. As of yesterday there was no mention of it at the school. They did suspend the students after it went viral. But before that the school tried to brush it under the rug.”

Glace Bay High School would not comment on the video. Cathy Viva, Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education’s director of programs and student services, said the incident was being handled by the school but she couldn’t comment on the video. Viva did say that some of the students in the video would likely be disciplined.

“Absolutely,” said Viva. “Any event like this there would be discipline involved. The school is dealing with that with the students involved.”

But Brett’s mom says she wants evidence showing the bullying will stop.

“A teacher assistant at the school actually told him today it’s his fault that students are getting suspended, that he chose to take part in that incident and he should watch his actions.

“He said he was being pushed into it.”

Glace Bay parent Brandy Aucoin said she was so disgusted by the video that she decided to organize a rally in the community on Sunday to address what she calls chronic bullying at the school. So far the Facebook invitation has garnered 20 attendees.

“We need to keep this conversation going,” said Aucoin. “To see all those students in that video standing around and watching this boy get humiliated is so disturbing to me. It tells me bullying is a huge problem at that school and we can’t just stand by and let this happen.”

Paul Young, a Sydney-based disability activist with cerebral palsy, said people should use the opportunity to speak out against bullying. Two years ago, Young was awarded the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross for his advocacy work.

“It’s very scary to me, the people who say that this is not my problem,” said Young. “This kind of bullying behaviour is taught to them, that people with disabilities are not normal. You see it in the advertising, that you have to have the right clothes, the right kind of smart phone, you have to look a certain way and if you don’t then you’re going to have a very difficult time.”